VA says yes to Golden Age Games in Buffalo

Strong lobbying efforts, led by Sen. Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins, convinced the Department of Veteran Affairs to reverse a two-week-old decision and bring back the postponed “Golden Age Games” to Buffalo.

The games, on March 19, had been postponed by the VA, despite the fact that local officials spent more than six years working on the competition. No reason was given for the postponement, which shocked local leaders, especially after all the necessary final contracts had been signed in early March.

Both Schumer and Higgins began making personal calls and please to VA Secretary Erie Shinseki, who late last week, decided to allow the games to proceed, as schedule. Buffalo was the only city that the VA had threatened to postpone the “Golden Age Games.”

“We were all stunned when the VA said the games were going to be scrapped,” Schumer said. “It seemed like it was a decision made in haste, but, I knew we had to press our case.”

The games were expected to attract more than 1,000 athletes and at least 2,500 total spectators and participants. Set for May 30 to June 5, the games are pegged to have a $2.2 million local economic impact.

“Buffalo, again, learned the lesson that it has to stand up for itself,” Higgins said.

Dottie Gallagher-Cohen, Visit Buffalo Niagara president and CEO, said she doesn’t think Buffalo will lose any participants or spectators because of the games “on-again/off-again/on-again” status that they have gone through in recent weeks.

The athletes, all 55 years of age and older and all military veterans, participate in 16 different sports ranging from sled hockey and swimming to cycling and table tennis. Booked venues included the Northtown Center at Amherst and downtown Buffalo’s Flickinger Athletic Center and Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.

“If these games were being held in a city like Cleveland, the (postponement) decision might have gone unnoticed,” Gallagher-Cohen said. “But, in Buffalo, this is a very big deal.”